1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a telecommunication system, and is more particularly related to a call processing in a network that provides operator services.
2. Discussion of the Background
The capability to call collect has proved vital in numerous situations where the calling party does not immediately have the ability to pay for the call or the ability to direct the accompanying charges to a pre-established account. For example, a caller (calling party), who is on travel without a means to pay for a call would need to resort to placing a collect call. In this scenario, the calling party simply can use any phone, including a pay phone, to contact a family member or friend; if the call is of an urgent nature, the called party would gladly accept the charges. From the called party's view, the call is identified as a collect call by the intervention of a telephone operator, who typically would state the calling party's name and ask whether the called party would accept the call. The call is completed upon acceptance of the changes by the called party. This acceptance process becomes complicated if the called party does not speak the same language as the telephone operator. Accordingly, a telephone operator who is fluent in the language of the called party is required to assist with call completion.
To address this need, service providers utilize foreign language operators (FLOs) throughout the telephone network. A conventional system that employs FLOs for processing collect calls is illustrated in FIG. 9. For purposes of explanation, it is assumed that user 901, as the calling party, places a collect call to user 903, the called party via the network of a local exchange carrier (LEC) 905. As seen in FIG. 9, end office 951 has a bridging switch 907, which is connected to LEC 905. The bridging switch 907 bridges the call from user 901 to an automatic call distributor (ACD) 909. Generally, ACDs distribute incoming calls to various agents for further call processing. In this instance, the ACD 909 determines that the call from user 901 is a collect call and that the called party 903 does not speak English. Through a series of voice prompts, the ACD 909 directs the call to a foreign language operator (FLO) 911, who can then speak with called party 903 to determine whether the collect call will be accepted.
Assuming now that user 901 places a collect call to user 913, which is served by LEC 915. Bridging switch 917 within end office 953. Similar to end office 951, end office 953 has an ACD 919 that communicates with a local FLO 921 to assist with the collect call. ACD 919 communicates with ACD 909 over a release link trunk (RLT) network 923. Under this arrangement, no mechanism exists for transferring the connection to the called party 913 to a remote FLO 911; a method only exists for the transfer of a calling party. As a result, both end offices 951 and 953 require their own FLOs 911 and 921, respectively. However, requiring a FLO at every end office is not cost effective in that certain end offices will under utilize their respective FLOs; such is the case if the subscribers within a serving area of an end office are English speakers, thereby not requiring a foreign language operator.
Based on the foregoing, there is a clear need for improved approaches for call processing with respect to use of operators.
There is a further need to minimize the cost of network operation.
Based on the need to efficiently employ network resources, an approach for sharing foreign language operators is highly desirable.